Thundercall, the call before the storm

ABSTRACT

ThunderCall is a computer based system for delivering NWS(National Weather Service) severe weather warnings as a message (personalized information, if desired) via an automated dialing system to live persons and to automated recorders comprising the steps of: forming a database of names with their respective geographic locations; capturing a NWS Bulletin reciting the location of a severe storm; validating a relevant Bulletin into a Valid Bulletin by determining from the storm&#39;s location that it represents an imminent severe storm danger to at least one person of said database (capable of 10,000,000 or more persons) recording, if desired, an individual personal urgent warning to the name of the intended recipient of the Valid Bulletin; combining, if desired, said personal warning with a generic severe storm warning for said recipient; and, sending said Valid Bulletin with said combined warnings to said person whereby he is alerted within seconds of the release time of said National Weather Service bulletin to the danger of said storm. The storms can include but are not limited to warnings for tornados, severe storms, hurricanes, winter storms, and other impending storms, and the like, and can be delivered to answering machines, live telephone recipients, PC screens, and can further shut down electrical equipment such as PCs.

[0001] This invention relates to telephone message systems, and inparticular to computer system where severe weather conditions areautomatically communicated to subscriber telephones whereby safetyprocedures can be undertaken before the weather reaches the subscriber'sarea and is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. application Ser. No.09/124,697 filed on Jul. 29, 1998 which claims the benefit of U.SProvisional Application 60/079,454 filed on Mar. 26, 1998 and furtherclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application 60/189,234 filed onMar. 14, 2000 all of which are by the same assignee and the sameinventors of the subject invention.

BACKGROUND AND PRIOR ART

[0002] Group emergency call systems are intended for use by volunteerfire personnel, civil defense, or other groups requiring quick andsimultaneous distribution of a message from a single individual to anumber of other individuals. This service has historically been used inrural areas to provide one-way communication from a control position toa reselected group or groups of individuals. The traditional method ofproviding this service has been to install an adjunct switching systemin the central office exchange that is cross-connected to linesdedicated for emergency use by the group emergency call system. Examplesof such prior art cross-connected adjunct or add-on systems are the 291Emergency Reporting System by Tellabs Inc., and the Emergency Out DialSystem manufactured by Message Processing System, Inc. Such prior artsystems suffer from the disadvantages of being expensive and complex,and requiring external maintenance terminals and sophisticatedelectronic equipment. Furthermore, such add-on emergency group callsystems are incapable of providing standard central office or PBX callfunctions such as automatic call forwarding from an emergency hunt groupsubscriber set to a further set in the exchange. For example, theaforementioned 291 Emergency Reporting System utilizes a siren fornotifying subscribers whose sets have been placed in call forward ordo-not-disturb modes as well as rural areas and small towns who havebeen devastated in recent years by severe weather conditions.

[0003] Communicating messages by telephone has increased tremendously inthe past decade. Communicating information such as advertisements andpublic announcements has become very important. Leaving pre-recordedmessages to subscribers has become a popular technique for communicatinginformation to thousands of individuals and businesses. There have manyproblems associated with leaving pre-recorded messages. For example,many pre-recorded messages are not noted immediately because therecipients do not quickly respond to the pre-recorded message and/or thepre-recorded messages are not correctly received by the answeringmachines. Thus, it has become more popular than ever in thecommunicating of messages to use computers, which will detect conditionsthat an answering machine is receiving the call.

[0004] Attempts have been made over the years to overcome the problemswith delivering messages to telephone answering machines. See forexample U.S. Pat. No. 4,667,065 to Bangerter; U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,168 toKelly, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,787 to Hamilton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,430,792to Jesurum et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,602 to Szlam et al. However,these patents are generally limited to sensing audio signals generatedby the answering machines and do not cover all the types of answeringmachines which start recording after different selected delay times. Forexample, many of these devices commence playing a recorded message basedon mistakenly detecting when the “beep” has occurred. The false “beep”signal is a common problem for real callers trying to leave messages onanswering machines. Furthermore, these patents do not fully analyze theconnected calls in order to utilize preselected delay times to deliverand fully play recorded messages which is of vital importance whendelivering emergency messages warning of the approach of severe weatherconditions which can endanger human life.

[0005] Message delivery systems, which deliver a recorded message to ananswering machine, must solve the problem of determining when to“Launch” (begin playback of) the prerecorded message. Conventionalsystems rely on a timer to determine the moment to begin playback of therecorded message which systems experience a high percentage oftruncation of the recorded message. Other serious problems includes: thecalled answering machine may disconnect the call due to prolongedsilence before the message playback begins; failure to listen to themessage since pre-recorded messages oftentimes do not personally addressthe individuals being called; and generally ignoring important messagessuch as when the message is dealing with imminent dangerous weatherconditions and other imminent dangers, and the like.

[0006] Other patents of general message communication interest include,U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,400 to Hamilton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,444,767 toGoetcheus et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,784 to Blen et al.; and U.S. Pat.No. 5,787,151 to Nakatsu et al. However, none of these patents solve allof the above problems.

[0007] Although the above has dealt with the problems relating topre-recorded messages introduced onto an answering machine, it isfurther essential that a severe weather warning of imminent danger toarea where the intended recipient is present and/or has an interest inmonitoring be provided. There have been extensive efforts by the UnitedStates National Weather Service to warn of emergency weather conditions.The National Weather Service broadcasts weather and weather emergenciesacross the United States using seven different regional weatherchannels. These seven channels range in frequency from 162.4 to 162.55MHz and employ narrow band FM modulation. When a regional weatheremergency exists, the weather service modulates a 1050 Hz tone on theappropriate 162 MHz weather frequencies for 10 seconds to alert thepublic of an impending weather emergency. However, the 1050 Hz tone willnot be heard by anyone who is not listening to a radio tuned to thatlocal weather channel at 162 MHz, at the time of the emergency.Additionally, individuals will only be warned of weather eventsoccurring within their immediate signal broadcast range. If anindividual needed to be alerted to severe weather events taking placehundreds of miles away, for example individuals with elderly relativesin a distant city or a person monitoring the conditions at a distantranch containing livestock, the National Weather Service broadcasts inthose areas would not reach their location, and therefore no warningwould be communicated.

[0008] One approach to this non-reception problem is to implements aweather radio receiver into a cordless telephone system to allow a userto hear the National Weather Service broadcast over the cordlesstelephone. A control allows the user to listen to the regional weatherbroadcast either from the base unit or from the handset unit. When aweather emergency exists, a 1050 Hz tone transmitted by the weatherservice will be announced through the base unit speaker as well asthrough the handset unit speaker regardless of whether the user islistening to the regional weather broadcast or is on the telephone atthe time of the emergency (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,541,980)

[0009] There still represents a serious need to provide a rapid responsesystem to directly alert one who is interested in protecting the livesof oneself, oneself and property from threatening severe weatherconditions such as tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, hailstorms flashfloods and windstorms by a warning system which delivers a severe stormwarning alertly to the personal telephone or other communication systemwhich can protect life and/or property for 24 hours a day.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The primary object of this invention is to provide a computerbased system of delivering severe weather warnings within seconds of aNational Weather Service bulletin release to individuals.

[0011] The secondary object of this invention is to provide a computerbased system of delivering severe weather warnings to telephones withinseconds of a National Weather Service bulletin release to individuals.

[0012] The third object of this invention is to provide severe weatherwarnings to telephones directly to homes and businesses.

[0013] The fourth objective of the present invention is to assuresubscribers all will be notified at all times whenever bad weatherrepresents an imminent danger to their homes and businesses.

[0014] The fifth object of this invention is to provide severe weatherwarnings to telephones as the weather evolves directly to homes andbusinesses.

[0015] The sixth object of this invention is to provide a severe weatherwarning telephone dialing software message delivery system tosubscribers having a local ZIP code identifier or other standardizedgeographic identifier, such as National Weather Service “Zones”.

[0016] The invention encompasses three embodiments. The first embodimentencompasses delivering pre-recorded personalized severe storm warningmessages. A database includes all subscribers to the Thundercall severestorm warning system and the location designation of each. The inventionchecks the subscriber location database to see if any severe storm areadefined by the NSW release is in imminent danger, e.g. having beendenoted as a “WARNING” event, (as opposed to a “Watch” event) and iffound then immediately warns all subscribers within the location ofdanger.

[0017] The second embodiment encompasses using the RealCall invention ofthe parent invention for delivering pre-recorded personalized severestorm warning messages after an answering machine has been detected andlaunches the pre-recorded recorded warning message. RealCall replacesthe pre-set timer controls of the prior art devices with an“interactive” logic, where the invention “listens” to the answeringmachine's outgoing message and waits for a condition suggesting that theanswering machine is in “record” mode. RealCall tests for the “record”mode condition by continuing to “listen” to the call for confirmationbefore starting to launch. As a result, the time interval from themoment the call connects until RealCall “launches” a message isdifferent for each call placed by the RealCall system. The novelRealCall invention is a next level that comes into play after the systemhas detected whether the received call in the dialer system has reacheda live person or an answering machine. Such a system is described inreference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,787 to Hamilton, which is incorporatedby reference. The RealCall portion of the invention uses dual two tiersteps after determining an answering machine has been reached. One twotier approach determines if a solid non human tone of at least onesecond duration is detected in the connected call and then playing therecorded information message only after the tone has been followed by apreselected interval of silence The other two tier approach determinesif silence of at least two seconds is detected in the connected call (inlieu of the indication of a solid non human tone of at least one secondduration) and then playing the recorded information message only afteranother one second interval of silence has been detected. The systemallows for the delivery of a complete severe storm warning message in anontruncated form onto the answering machine within approximately two tothree seconds of the start of the answering machine's recording stepwithout allowing the machine to cut-off the complete pre-selectedmessage during the recording. Unlike the limitations in the prior artsystems, the novel invention can be used with all types of answeringmachines such as, but not limited to a tape machine, a digital machine,a pager, a telephone provider voice/memory call machine, and a cellularmachine.

[0018] The third embodiment of the invention is a communication systemwhere the information delivered of a severe storm warning provokespreviously designated action on part of the subscriber's equipments toshutdown electronic equipment such as computers and associatedequipment, all electrical power to the subscriber's power anddisconnecting all telephone circuitry. In this embodiment, storm warningmessages can be delivered to the active screen of the PC user, and/orwarn of the impending shut down of the PC equipment and/or warn thatelectrical equipment, telephone connected equipment, and the like,should be shut down.

[0019] The first and second embodiments can be combined together so thatthe RealCall system works in conjunction with delivering personalizedgreetings to the person being called.

[0020] Further objects and advantages of this invention will be apparentfrom the following detailed description of a presently preferredembodiment which is illustrated schematically in the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0021]FIG. 1 illustrates a system diagram illustrating the novelThundercall telephone severe weather warning message delivery systeminvention.

[0022]FIG. 2 is a chart illustrating the subsystem for processing of asevere weather warning bulletin to a customer at a designated locationfound to be in imminent danger of said severe weather.

[0023] FIG.3 diagrammatically illustrates the telephony subsystem thatcan be used for the invention.

[0024]FIG. 4 illustrates a preferred setup using the novel severeweather warning message delivery system of the invention.

[0025]FIG. 5 is a chart of the seven (7) steps used in the noveltelephone dialing software message delivery system invention of FIG. 3.

[0026]FIG. 6A is a flowchart of the dialer program portion steps 1-4 ofthe novel telephone dialing software message delivery system inventionof FIG. 5.

[0027]FIG. 6B is a flowchart of the dialer placing call and monitoringportion steps 5-7 of the novel telephone dialing software messagedelivery system invention of FIG. 5.

[0028]FIG. 6C is an overview of the entire flowchart process of thenovel telephone dialing software message delivery system invention ofFIGS. 5 and 6A-6B.

[0029]FIG. 7 is a second embodiment flowchart of modifying the flow playof recording step 600 of FIGS. 6B and 6C to personalizing a pre-facemessage prior to the pre-recorded message.

[0030] FIG.8 shows the six sub-step flowchart for the novel for thepersonalized pre-face message step of FIG. 7.

[0031]FIG. 9 illustrates a tornado warning bulletin for use in thesubject invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0032] Before explaining the disclosed embodiment of the presentinvention in detail it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited in its application to the details of the particular arrangementshown since the invention is capable of other embodiments. Also, theterminology used herein is for the purpose of description and not oflimitation.

[0033]FIG. 1 diagrammatically illustrates the system of ThunderCall bymeans of which the NOAA weather Bulletins 12 which are obtained from theGEOS-8 East Weather Satellite 14 by the satellite receiver 16 andthereafter processed into a bulletin by interaction with a bulletindatabase 20. By advertising on the Internet 22 and obtaining there fromsubscriptions service 24, the system develops a customer database 26which holds the names and pertinent information of subscribers. Thebulletin processing 18 interacts with the designate customers 28determined by location from the database 26 and communicate the severestorm warning through the telephony subsystem 30 (shown in detail inFIG. 10.). Its voice output 29 is sent to the numerous phone banks 32for transmission to the customers 34, and the voice messages can beedited and maintained through edit and maintenance software.

[0034] Referring now to FIG. 2, it shown there in diagrammatic fashionof how NWS information from the satellite receiver 16 provides forbulletin file capture 202 from which the relevant valid bulletins 204are captured at step 206 with the time noted from bulletin time module205 and thereafter identified as relevant at step 208 by using itslocation (State, County, Zone, ZIP) 210 in comparison with the locationcodes 212 of the customers and establishment that it is a Valid Bulletinat module 213. Having identified relevant Bulletins, the systemdesignates it as an Active Bulletin 214 which severe storm weatherbulletin 214 is sent to the designated customers 216 alerting each toimminent life endangering climatic conditions and to Bulletin HistoryFile 215 which provides information as to the likelihood of varioussevere storms at any of a multitude of locations. The Selected ValidBulletins 204 are stored as Valid Bulletins 207 and also temporarystored with all Bulletins at 208 captured by Bulletin File 202.

[0035]FIG. 3 sets forth in block form how the telephony subsystem 30 ofFIG. 1 functions with the designated customers 216 of FIG. 2. When theNWS weather Bulletin 12 is transmitted to the Bulletin File Capture 202as shown on FIG. 2, the identity of the Bulletin Location 208 andthereafter processed into an Active Bulletin 214 which furtherestablishes the Designate Customers 216 which are to be advised of theimminent danger of the approaching severe storm. The customers to becalled and the message to be sent to them 218 is analyzed to determineand identify the telephone lines required 220 by interrogating thedatabase as to valid customers 222. The next step is to select the phonematrix 224 based on input from lines required 220 and the validcustomers of the database 222. Input to matrix 224 comes from storeddata of the Bulletin message script and phone number 226. This compositeinformation to be later discussed flows into phone banks 32 numbering864 as seen at 33 to be subsequently communicated to customer 34.

[0036] In addition to severe storm weather telephone messages includingvoice messages, there are other procedures which could take placeincluding: the transmission of a specific sequence of DTMF tones orother signals 35 which could first alert the subscriber and a secondsignal to initiate an automatic shut down of the PC equipment; a signalcould be sent through the line to activate a self powered siren 37 toalert anyone within hearing that a severe storm was approaching.Additionally, an interrupt page could appear on the screen of the PCuser warning them of the storm warning message.

[0037]FIG. 3 illustrates the preferred setup of the THUNDERCALL severeweather early warning service that will call your telephone and delivera pre-recorded message within seconds after a warning is issued by theNWS for your area. A severe weather alert is sent by NWS via satellite302 which is captured by satellite equipment 304 which alert isprocessed by computers having a location database 308 and if a warningis required from location of relevant customers from said database 308,the appropriate subscribers are selected 310 and THUNDERCALL warningsare delivered 312 are rapidly delivered to customers telephones 314.

[0038] This main computer system 306 includes a PC such as an IBMcompatible PC having 200 MHZ or higher, with Pentium processor and thelike, including a standard harddrive, 14″ or greater color monitor,mouse and keyboard for input. PC 15 is connected to a Telephony Hardware20 such as but not limited to an Analog/Digital Multi Channel Telephonycard such as the Dialogic D41D (Analog), D240SC-T1 andD/240SC-T2(Digital), and the like. The CT hardware can be a 12″ computercard used in the computer 306 and includes the following features ofplaying voice messages to a caller, digitizing and recording voicesignals, connecting directly to telephone lines, and placing outboundcalls and reporting the results of the calls. The Dialogic ComputerTelephony (CT) card model no. D/240SC-T1 and D/240SC-T2 can allowtwenty-four (24) telephone lines to operate through a single digital T1connection. The software uses multitasking OS (Windows 2000 or WindowsNT or similar), and can be developed with programming language softwaresuch as but not limited to C++, Visual Basic, Delphi, and the like.Software further uses a Custom Control software for control of the CThardware. Programming languages (i.e. Microsoft's Visual Basic) providea conduit for programmers to access a computer's built in capabilities.Programming languages refer to code which accesses specificcapabilities, such as viewing the contents of a hard drive, or playingsound files over a computer's sound card as CONTROLS. The Custom Controlsoftware 30 are controls which are not provided part of the programminglanguage, but are typically developed by third party softwaredevelopers.

[0039] The software further uses database software for maintaining thecalling lists, such as but not limited to Microsoft Sequel Server,Dbase, Foxpro, and the like. The calling lists in the RealCall inventioncontain at least the following: phone number (approximately 10 digits),geographic area indicator (such as ZIP code), message file name(s), callhistory field, connect time field, record number(unique), date and timeof call, and last call status. Although not required, the calling listscan contain additional information such as but not limited to names,addresses, past consumer behavior, and the like.

[0040] Along with the telephony CT hardware and software is thetelephone service of the telephony subsystem 30 such as but not limitedto Analog (RJ11-RJ14) interface, Digital(T1) interface and the like,which comes from the telephone service provider. The telephone serviceprovider, such as but not limited to BellSouth and MCI, provides accessto the network of telephone lines linking all telephones across theUnited States.

[0041] A telephone carrier connects automatically dialed calls from maincomputer system 306 to deliver messages to the remotely locatedanswering machines 314, and the CT hardware monitors the call status.For example, ellSouth can provide a “Dial Tone” service, (which can berequired by some CT hardware) and MCI can provide digital T1 service (nodial tone). Both BellSouth and MCI can provide a “Switching” capability,wherein each call can be routed over any available wire network todeliver the call to the appropriate telephone.

[0042] The telephone system of this invention can successfully interpretboth traditional answering machines (tape and digital) as well asanswering services such as but not limited to BellSouth's “PersonalVoice Mail” and “Memory Call” as well as cellular phone answeringservices such as “Mobile Memo” and pager messaging services. TheRealCall invention can work with any answering system, which plays avoice message and then records the caller's message.

[0043]FIG. 5 is a chart 7 of the seven (7) steps used in the preferrednovel telephone dialing software message delivery system 30 of FIG. 1.The seven (7) steps cover the interaction between a novel dialer programand a link program, which is shown in greater detail in reference toFIGS. 6A-6C. The first four steps can be accomplished by the Dialogicsystems covered under U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,787 (machine answerdetection); U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,638,436 & 5,450,484 (voice detection); U.S.Pat. No. 4,979,214 (speech recognition); U.S. Pat. No.5,404,400(outcalling apparatus) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,759, all ofwhich are incorporated by reference. Other dialing systems can be usedwhich initially determine when an answering machine has been detectedthrough step 400.

[0044] An overview of the seven (7) steps will now be described.Referring to FIG. 5, the first Step 100, the Dialer program requests thenext (telephone) number to be dialed from the “Link program” which hasaccess to the calling database in the main computer 306. The “Dialer”step 100 is responsible for dialing a telephone number, determining thestatus of the call and delivering the recorded message of the severestorm warning at the appropriate time. For example, each phone line ismonitored by the Dialer program step. In the second Step 200, the Linkrequests info for the dialer step from a database of phone numbers. Anovel Link program insures that individual phone numbers are dialed onlyonce. The Link program is the only program which communicates with thedatabase of phone numbers directly. Each dialer program submits requestsfor new phone numbers to the Link, which processes these requests in theorder received and retrieves information from the database of phonenumbers on behalf of each dialer program. In addition, the Link programupdates the database with completed call statistics, which arecommunicated to the Link program from each Dialer program as calls arecompleted. The purpose of the Link program is to avoid system resourceproblems, which can occur when hundreds of Dialer programs attempt tosimultaneously communicate with a database directly. Third Step 300 hasthe database send record info from the database to the Link. And theFourth Step 400 sends the database Info to the dialer.

[0045] The subject invention novelty comes into play with the Fifth Step500 in FIG. 5. Fifth Step 500 has the dialer place the call and beginsmonitoring call status. The call status can include whether the callconnected to an answering machine, busy signal, reached a Facsimiletone, no answer, and the like. Sixth Step 600 plays the recorded file,and the seventh Step 700 compiles call stats (statistics) and sends theinformation to the database 308 in main computer 306. After a call iscompleted, the novel program software updates each record with theresult statistics (stats) of the call. The stats can include thedisposition of the call (delivered to a live person or delivered to ananswering machine), the length of connect, the call status, the time ofday, and the like.

[0046]FIG. 6A is a flowchart 70 of the dialer program portion steps 1-4of the novel telephone dialing software message delivery systeminvention of FIG. 5. FIG. 6B is a flowchart 80 of the dialer placingcall and monitoring portion Steps 5-7 of the novel telephone dialingsoftware message delivery system invention of FIG. 5, and will beexplained in greater detail later. FIG. 6C is an overview of the entireflowchart process 90 of the novel telephone dialing software messagedelivery system invention of FIGS. 5 and 6A-6B. FIGS. 6A-6C are furtherexplained in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/124,697 tothe same inventor and assignee of the subject invention, which isincorporated by reference.

[0047] Referring to FIGS. 6A and 6C, the dialer program 70 initiates thefirst Step 100 which requests the next telephone number to dial and usesthe link program 150 to communicate to the second Step 200 which is thelink request for information for the dialer from the database 250 (aka308 of FIG. 4). Third Step 300 has the Database 250 send recordinformation to the Link program 150 to the fourth Step 400 which is aprocess that sends the telephone and Database information from the Linkprogram to the dialer program 70 and to the flowchart shown in FIG. 6B.When the Dialer program 70 requests a new number to call, the Linkprogram 150 sends the Dialer program 70 the following bits of data: atelephone number, the name of the recorded severe storm warningmessage(s) to play once connected, and the unique number of thesubscriber. When the Dialer program 70 has completed a call it sends tothe Link program 150 the following: recorded number of completed call,call length and the results of the call. The first five Steps 100, 200,300, 400 and 500 of FIGS. 6A-65C take place in the main computer system306 of FIG. 4.

[0048]FIG. 6B is a flowchart 80 of the dialer placing call and the novelmonitoring portion Steps 5-7 of the telephone dialing software messagedelivery system of FIG. 5. FIG. 6C is an overview of the entireflowchart process 90 of the novel telephone dialing software messagedelivery system invention of FIGS. 5 and 6A-65B. Referring to FIGS.6B-6C, the fifth Step 500 receives by line 76 the telephone number anddatabase information from the dialer program 70 and a dialer places thesevere storm warning call and begins monitoring the call status. Twooutputs can be the result of the fifth Step 500, either the callconnects 505, or the dialed call doesn't connect 595. Any call, whichdoes not result in the telephone being answered by either a live personor a telephone answering machine, is considered a “Non Connect”.Examples of non connected calls are those resulting in Busy, No answer,No Ringand Operator Interrupts. If no connect, then the seventh Step 700occurs where the system compiles the Call Stats and sends information todatabase 250 via link 150 and the line 800 prepares for the next callback to first Step 100.

[0049] Referring back to both FIGS. 6B and 6C, if a call connects viaeither path 510 or 515 what occurs will now be explained in detail.Under 510, an answering machine can be detected via background noise.The CT hardware of the computer 306 of FIG. 4 can detect an answeringmachine by analyzing the frequency of the background noise present inthe called party's voice response and compares it to a profile of thebackground noise typical of recorded messages. If the CT hardwaredetermines the presence of an answering machine in this manner, or inany other manner proprietary to the specific CT hardware, itcommunicates this information to the novel system (via the Customcontrol software) and the novel part of the Dialer program 70 responds.If the hardware 20 does not detect an answering machine via its' builtin detection, then the software in the Dialer program 70 determineswhether the call is connected to a live person or an answering machineby analyzing the length (time) of the cadence of the voice whichanswered the telephone. The typical voice cadence of a live person ismuch shorter than that of an answering machine. For example a liveperson answers the telephone generally in one of the following ways:“Hello?” (followed by silence), “Hello, Smith Residence” (followed bysilence), “ABC Enterprises . . . how can I direct your call?” (followedby silence). In all of these cases, the spoken words occur for a verybrief period of time (less than three seconds), followed by a period ofsilence. In the case of a typical answering machine, the length ofcontinuous human sound prior to a period of silence is much greater. Anexample of a typical answering machine message is “Thank you for callingthe Smith Residence, we're not home right now, but if you leave amessage after the tone we will call you back as soon as we can. Thankyou for calling, and have a great day” (followed by silence). Afteranalyzing the cadence the RealCall invention will have determinedwhether the call has reached an answering machine or reached a liveperson. The novel software system will then proceed to take theappropriate action.

[0050] From the answering machine substep 510 shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C,the next substep is to begin analyzing the call 530. From analyzing callsubstep 530, either a solid non human tone is detected for a minimumduration of 1 second substep 535 or silence is detected for a minimumduration of 2 seconds in substep 555.

[0051] Substeps 535 and 555 encompass the heart of the RealCallpreferred telephone system for sending out severe storm warningmessages. In order to have reached step 530, the system must havedetermined it has reached an answering machine. The RealCall invention,i.e., the preferred telephony system 30 of FIG. 1, now must try todetermine the appropriate time to launch the prerecorded message. To‘analyze’ the call, the invention begins to RECORD the answeringmachine. The novel program only has instructions to stop recording undertwo conditions: (1) if it “hears” the presence of a solid, non humantone lasting at least one second in length (substep 535), or (2) ithears no sound for at least two continuous seconds (substep 555). Asolid nonhuman tone (substep 535) would be typical of a “BEEP”indicating that machines readiness to begin recording. However, sincemany answering machines play “BEEP” tones lasting less than one second,the two seconds of silence (substep 540) will act as a safety measure toinsure that playback begins if the novel software does not recognize the“BEEP” indicator (substeps 540 and 560). Additionally, many answeringmachines play a succession of “beeps” to indicate the number of unplayedmessages currently residing on the system. The 2^(nd) stage of continuedanalysis (substep 540) insures that the recording does not begin whilethe answering machine is still playing a series of “beep” tones. Duringtesting of the - procedure described above and further defined in parentpatent application Ser. No. 09/124,697 to the same assignee and sameinventor as that of the subject invention which is incorporated byreference, simply identifying a “BEEP” (535) or two seconds of silence(555) did not indicate the moment when the answering machine beginsrecording with any high degree of accuracy. The reasons for theinaccuracy stems from many factors including: (1) machines which playmultiple “BEEPS” before recording starts, (2) machines which play onholdmusic (solid, non human tones) while preparing to record, (3) Outgoingmessages (OGMs) which contain periods of silence after the end of themessages but prior to the announcing of a “beep” tone indicating thestart of recording (this usually is the result of the owner of theanswering machine who records their OGM and then cannot stop therecording immediately after recording their script).

[0052] In order to obtain a higher degree of accuracy as to the momentrecording begins, the RealCall procedure uses a dual alternativetwo-step tier. If the system had previously identified an initial “BEEP”(solid non-human noise (step 535)), the invention then beginsre-recording the call, this time with instructions to end recording onlyafter a period of two continual seconds of silence (sub step 540). Thislogic believes that a “BEEP” or the playing of music has alreadyoccurred, and now the system is searching for the indication ofrecording, which will be evidence by silence. Consequently, if the firsttier analysis terminated for the presence of two seconds of silence (substep 555), the second tier analysis will simply test for another periodof at least one second of additional silence (sub step 560) beforelaunching. In this situation, the second tier search for additionalsilence eliminates false recording detection in situations where an OGMplays a period of silence prior to playing a “BEEP”. Testing of theRealCall procedure has determined that adding the second tier ofanalysis has increased overall accuracy in determining the proper momentto begin playback by over 75% over current systems described in theprior art section of this invention.

[0053] As mentioned above, from substep 535 (in FIGS. 6B and 6C), thesystem continues analyzing the call until there is silence for 2 seconds(substep 540). After which from substep 540, the sixth Step 600 occurswhere the system plays the recorded information file message, followedby the system disconnects the call substep 650 and the seventh Step 700where the system compiles Call Stats and sends information to database250 via Link program 150 and substep 800 which prepares the system forthe next telephone number and the first Step 100.

[0054] As previously mentioned, the other path from Begin Analyzing Callsubstep 530, is if silence is detected (2 sec) 555. From substep 555,the next sub step is to Continue Analyzing Call Until Silence for 1second, sub step 560. From substep 560, the sixth Step 600 has thesystem play the recorded information file, followed by the systemdisconnect substep 650 and the seventh Step 700 where the systemcompiles Call Stats (previously described) and sends the Statsinformation to database 250 via Link program 150 and substep 800 whichprepares the system for the next telephone number and the first Step100.

[0055] Referring to FIGS. 6B-6C, the Call Connects 505 passes throughsubstep 515 when cadence or voice is detected. Next the system tests thelength of the connect, substep 520. If an AM (answering machine) Connectis indicated by a cadence length greater than 3 seconds, substep 525,then the system begins analyzing the call to determine the appropriatetime to play the message, substep 530, and the substeps 535 and 555 arechecked as previously described. AM connect refers to Answering MachineConnect, or a call which has connected to an answering machine, asopposed to calls which are connected to live persons.

[0056] Referring to FIGS. 6B-6C, if the test length of connectidentifies a Live Connect as indicated by a cadence length of less than3 seconds substep 575, then the system goes to the sixth Step 600 wherethe system plays the recorded information message immediately, and soforth as previously described.

[0057]FIG. 7 is a second embodiment flowchart of modifying the play therecording step 6, (also indicated as 600 on FIG. 5) of the firstembodiment for personalizing a message directed to the subscriber byincluding a personalized introduction greeting that states the callrecipient's first name, followed immediately by the generic pre-recordedsevere storm warning message as shown at 602. FIG. 7 shows analternative step 6 to that depicted in FIG. 6B. New step 6 has twopreliminary steps 610, 620 before playing the generic pre-recordedmessage 600. Referring to FIG. 7, step 610, takes the name of thesubscriber being called and compares it to an index of all personalizedfirst name greetings available (substep 610) from the database 308 If apersonalized first name greeting message exists that matches the firstname of the subscriber the personalized greeting message will be playedfirst (substep 620), followed immediately by the generic pre-recordedsevere storm warning message, step 600. Both messages are played insuccession onto the answering machine followed by step 690, where uponcompletion of the call, or termination by the called party hanging up,step 7, 700 and the remaining steps 150, 250 and 800 are completed. Ifthere is no subscriber name available in the pre-recorded database atstep 610, the invention skips to step 600 and plays the genericpre-recorded message onto the answering machine, followed by step 690,700, 150, 250 and 800 as previously described.

[0058]FIG. 8 shows the six sub-step flowchart 1600 for the novelpersonalized pre-face message step of FIG. 7. Personalized prefacing isused to enhance prerecorded message delivery systems such as theRealCall message delivery system shown and described in the firstembodiment, as well other computerized prerecorded message deliverysystems. Personalized prefacing allows each prerecorded message to beinitiated with a personalized greeting such as but not limited to “HelloBill . . . ” followed by a generic pre-recorded severe storm-warningmessage recorded in the same voice as the personalized greeting such asbut not limited to “This is a ThunderCall severe weather warning call”.When used in conjunction with the RealCall embodiment or other systemscapable of delivering and leaving recorded messages on answeringmachines, the personalized preface invention enhances the perception bythe call recipient that the warning message was left by a live person,instead of by a computer.

[0059] Under the first substep 1 of FIG. 8 identified as 1610, asubscriber location database is analyzed to determine the names of allsubscriber residing in the subscriber database. Under the next substep1620, a personalized greeting is recorded for each of the mostfrequently occurring first names existing in the subscriber database.

[0060] The personalized greeting should be recorded using the same humanvoice that records the generic information message being delivered tothe call recipients, so that the two messages (the preface and thegeneric message) can later be seamlessly merged by the system into whatappears as one continuous personalized message.

[0061] Under sub step 1630 in FIG. 8, once personalized greetingmessages for the selected subscriber's names have been stored, thegeneric message is recorded in the same voice as that of the prefacepersonal greeting. Under sub step 1640, calls warning of the forthcomingsevere storm to subscriber's home and/or location are now placed to thesubscriber by the computer dialing message delivery system. At the pointin the call processing when the RealCall system is ready to play thesevere storm warning message, the system determines whether apersonalized message exists matching the first name of the subscriberidentified for that location as indicated in step 5 (also noted as1650).

[0062] If the invention does not find a personalized greeting recordingmatching the subscriber's name, then the program simply launches thegeneric message without the personalized urgent greeting. If theinvention does find a personalized greeting recording matching thesubscriber's name, then the program will first play the personalizedgreeting message followed immediately by the generic warning message.

[0063]FIG. 9 illustrates a sample generic message script sent out tosubscribers warning of a tornado approaching the subscriber's location.

[0064] Although the preferred embodiments described under embodiment twoabove encompasses sending the combined personalized preface greeting andgeneric message to answering machines, the invention can be used withapplications where the call recipient does not have an answeringmachine, but instead picks up their phone live.

[0065] While the invention has been described, disclosed, illustratedand shown in various terms of certain embodiments or modifications whichit has presumed in practice, the scope of the invention is not intendedto be, nor should it be deemed to be, limited thereby and such othermodifications or embodiments as may be suggested by the teachings hereinare particularly reserved especially as they fall within the breadth andscope of the claims here appended.

We claim:
 1. A computer based system for delivering severe weatherwarnings comprising the steps of: (a) forming a database of names withtheir respective geographic locations; (b) capturing a NWS Bulletinreciting the location of a severe storm; (c) validating a relevantBulletin into a Valid Bulletin by determining from the storm's locationand severity that it represents an imminent severe storm danger to atleast one person of said database; and (d) sending said Valid Bulletinto said person whereby he is is alerted within seconds of the releasetime of said National Weather Service bulletin to the danger of saidstorm.
 2. The computer based system of delivering severe weatherwarnings of claim 1 wherein said Valid Bulletin is stored.
 3. Thecomputer based system of delivering severe weather warnings of claim 1wherein said database contains from 10 to approximately 10,000,000names.
 4. The computer based system of delivering severe weatherwarnings of claim 1 to valid customers wherein said sending is by aselected phone matrix based on the input from telephone lines requiredand valid customers from interrogating said database.
 5. The computerbased system of delivering severe weather warnings of claim 1 whereinsaid warning is played to an answering machine.
 6. The computer basedsystem of delivering severe weather warnings of claim 5 wherein saiddelivering is by personalized warnings to answering machines.
 7. Thecomputer based system of delivering severe weather warnings of claim 3wherein said warning is delivered to live persons.
 8. A computer basedsystem for delivering severe weather warnings as a personalizedinformation message via an automated dialing system to automatedrecorders comprising the steps of: (a) forming a database of names withtheir respective geographic locations; (b) capturing a NWS Bulletinreciting the location of a severe storm; (c) validating a relevantBulletin into a Valid Bulletin by determining from the storm's locationthat it represents an imminent severe storm danger to at least oneperson of said database; (d) recording an individual personal urgentwarning to the name of the intended recipient of the Valid Bulletin; (e)combining said personal warning with a generic severe storm warning forsaid recipient; and, (f) sending said Valid Bulletin with said combinedwarnings to said person whereby he is alerted within seconds of therelease time of said National Weather Service bulletin to the danger ofsaid storm.
 9. The computer based system of claim 1 , wherein thewarning is delivered to an active screen on a personal computer(PC). 10.The computer based system of claim 1 , wherein the warning is used toshut down an electrical equipment.
 11. The computer based system ofclaim 10 , wherein the electrical equipment includes a personalcomputer(PC).
 12. The computer based system of claim 11 , wherein thewarning is delivered to an active screen on the personal computer(PC) towarn that the PC will be shut down.